SPA Modeler

This project has a bit of a long gestation before finally taking shape. I originally bought the basic Nichimo M4A1 in “severely started” condition off of eBay many years ago. But it was incomplete and languished on a shelf in my work areas for years while I wondered what to do with it.

In May, for this past June’s 75th Anniversary of D-Day and also the June IPMS theme, I decided to modify and complete it as a wading M4 of the 741st Tank Battalion on Omaha Beach. The basic mods for wading, adding the stacks and waterproofing canvas and sealant did not take too long to do, but longer than I estimated (of course). And then of course, life gets in the way, so planned work bench times don’t happen. Long story short, this was not done in time for June.

Well, yesterday, I finally finished up the AFV Club T48 indie link tracks. Originally, when I started this project, I had something of a personal quandary about calling this build as my own. Let’s just say that after all the changes and effort that I put into this one, I now consider it “mine”... all ready for final detail paint and decals now...

Looks good Stick, where did you get the stacks?

Those came off an Italeri kit for an Iwo Jima Sherman. I picked up a couple on clearance, and would not be making one as a wader, so had that as spares. It took some mods to the Nichimo kit and the stacks to adapt them to fit. I did not have lots of reference photos, so there is some guestimation here.

Very nice!

I hear ya with life getting in the way of bench time. But in the end you have one awesome looking Sherman!

Thomas and Clint, thank you for your compliments and kind words.

Here is my final update for today. I finished up all detail painting aside from the wood handle areas of the commander’s .50.






All ready for the decals tomorrow

Decals on... I used a set of Bison decals for these markings. Which are great to use.





Almost at the finish line...

Looking good Carlos. You going to weather her like she just came out of the water?

Clint, I’m planning on doing some light weathering on this. I can imagine that the surf took off a lot of the dirt & dust that photos show was on the tanks when they went on board the landing craft in England.